My wife and I are just begining to edit videos and picture slide shows. We are using Nero 6 OEM (came w/dvd burner) and Pinnacle Plus 10.5. Computer gets real slow when runnig PP 10.5 and video and sound do not match (video lags behind sound). I have turned off some of the programs in the back ground but it doesn't seem to help much. I think our PC is just to slow!

AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 1.5gig of ram, 250gig SATA HD at 1.5gs, XP Home

We use this PC for all of or work and internet (which I know does not help).

Is the old AMD just to slow or can it be tuned up a bit to edit home videos?

Thinks for your help!

I think your bottleneck could be down to using just one hard drive. Many editors install an extra drive on which they mount project files and assets, leaving the original drive purely for the o/s and program files.

£50 will get you a good drive.

Turning off programs in the background certainly helps. My rendering times improve massively when I do this. Don't just rely on your task manager to reveal the compete picture; I use a freeware program called 'What's Running' to pick up background processes and it's great Welcome to WhatsRunning.net! The home of What's Running, your system information utility!

If you want to experiment with tweaks, you might like to read some articles on how to optimise XP for video editing. XP is a great O/S. However, it has to be many things to many people, requiring many backgound processes to be loaded at startup that most home users do not need (such as those necessary for being on a network, for example).

Get a beverage ready, then go here:

Videoguys' WinXP Tweaks for Non-Linear Video Editing

Just remember to set a restore point before you start messin!

Just a final point - do you know what motherboard your system has and whether you are 'maxed out' as far as CPU speed is concerned? You may be able to upgrade to, say, an XP 2400+ without any difficulty, and without breaking the bank.

There are sure some tweaks you can apply and as Bert suggested a dedicated drive for your video is better.
I think here especially your processor might not be up to the task, if none of what Bert suggested helps then your only option would be to, or upgrade the processor if possible or otherwise buy a new basic pc, amd pc's f.i. are very competetive priced these days.

1. I just upgraded to the 250g HD from a 40g IDE 7200 rpm w/16m cache. Will this IDE drive be large enough and fast enough for my video drive?
2. I just read about "Whatsrunning Know" last night. I downloaded it but have not tried it yet. I have be looking for a way to turn off unnessary stuff that runs in the background so I think this program will help. Does it tell you what each program is and if it is nessary for the computer to run stable? I have tried task manger and another program before but did not know what was safe to turn off.
3. I am foing to check out the Videoguys web site for more info.
4. My MB is an ABIT KW7 and it will handle any of the K7 Processors. I wanted to get a Barton core 2500+ when I built this system but the price was more than I wanted to spend.

I forgot to you that I do not have Firewire so I have been using USB 2.0. From what I have read this could be a big problem also.

I am want to build a new system with AMD X2 4800+ and 2g of memory. I just built 1 PC with a Gigabyte MB w/on-board Geforce 6100 video, X2 4800+, and 2g memory that seems to run great with buisness related programs and internet. Are there any draw backs when using on-board video for video editing?

Thank you for all of your help! Any additional advice will greatly be appreciated!

Roundman

Plenty big enough for hobbyist use. You could always buy more/bigger drives in the future.

What's Running's website has a fair bit of info on this. I also just Googled for info on which services are safe to disable. I consulted several sources to ensure consensus. what services can i turn off in XP - Google Search


I edit fine with an old AMD XP 2400+

Yes it could. In fact, it very probably is. The general advice is not to transfer via USB. Get a PCI firewire card. They are cheap. (Safecom PCI Firewire 1394A Card with 3 External and 1 Internal Port OEM) This question should have been asked earlier: what is the make and model of your camera?

The majority of editing programs make no major demands of graphics hardware. If your onboard graphics are good enough for general computer use, they should be good enough for editing.

My camera is a Sony DCR-TRV280 NTSC (Digital version). It has USB, Firewire, and Analog outputs. I have a computer at the school that has Firewire and Nero 6 OEM on it. I am going to hook my camera to it and see how it works. (The one with a Gigabyte MB w/on-board Geforce 6100 video, X2 4800+, and 2g memory). I may even install Pinnacle on just to see how it runs on the faster PC.

Thursday night I started memtest86+ just before bedtime and during the night my 250g HD failed. It makes a clicking/ratching sound and the MB can not recognise it, so I am back to my 40g IDE. I have checked into Data recovery and man is it expensive!!! $400 to $4000 USD! We have not desided if the lost info is really that important.

bert6280, thanks for the Google search for the site on what is safe to turn off in XP, I am checking them out now. In the next few days or so we will be making a desision about upgrading this PC (adding firewire card, processor ect...) or building a new AMD x2. We can always use this PC as a second one since my wife and I are constantly need it at the same time.

I mad a mistake about the memory on this computer it is not 1.5gig it is only 1gig, 4 sticks in Dual Channel mode.

Again Thanks for all of the help! I am on a learning curve again.